CREATIVITY and innovation is one of the essence of teaching and learning at Universiti Teknologi Brunei (UTB). UTB students have demonstrated that they are able to come up with creative and innovative products, and gone on to win national and regional competitions.
Two groups of highly-motivated and innovative UTB students shared their stories to encourage the youth, especially students to be more creative and innovative.
Smart Shower 2.0
Smart Shower 2.0 is an invention by a group of UTB students who went on to win first prize in the Category 2 of the Crown Prince Creative, Innovative Product and Technological Advancement (CIPTA) Award 2015 for the Modification of Existing Product, Process or Technology.
The team – comprising of Matius Anak Belayan, Nur Syamimi Qurratu ‘Ainee binti Mohd Noh, Chang Wei Hau, Tan Keh Guan and Tony Chieng Tiew Loong – won $8,000, a trophy and certificates in the competition.
The Smart Shower 2.0 is a device that discourages excessive use of water during showering. It is a refinement of their pioneer prototype – the ‘ITB Smart Shower’, also referred to as the version 1.0 – which won first prize in the IGNITE Entrepreneurship Challenge in 2014.
The improved version comes with various upgraded features. It has a compact design with all the components incorporated in the shower head. It is also designed to generate its own power as it would not be convenient to attach a power cable into the shower head.
The modified prototype makes use of hydroelectricity and flow counter components, peristaltic pump valve mechanism and micro-controller components.
Xolver Company
Universiti Teknologi Brunei’s (UTB) Xolver team with the Vice-Chancellor of UTB after signing the Joint Ownership Agreement. UTB students have demonstrated that they are able to come up with creative and innovative products, and gone on to win national and regional competitions. Two groups of UTB students shared their stories to encourage the youth to be more creative and innovative
The team did not just stop by inventing the product, they have gone beyond that. After winning the award, they have registered their business under the name Xolver Company – a ‘techprise’ platform in UTB to encourage entrepreneurship amongst its undergraduates.
They have also filed their product for patent with Brunei Intellectual Property Office (IPO) and while waiting for that to get approved, the group is refining the Smart Shower 2.0 into an actual beta product that can be proposed to manufacturing companies for production.
The company will also embark on market research and work on fine-tuning the device to improve efficiency and reduce production cost.
When asked about the dynamics of the team and how they make it work, the team said that realising each member has their own strengths and weaknesses helps them to work together better.
Delegating different tasks to each member and holding each other accountable helps them to achieve goals in the limited timeframe that they normally have to work with.
When the team were asked on the challenges they faced in their process of invention, they said that their biggest challenge was juggling their academic with the amount of time they had to invest into the project.
The recognition by the CIPTA Award 2015, a prestigious award, has encouraged them to strive for more and keep them motivated in their inventing journey.
The team admires Bill Gates for his contribution to modern computers and his philanthropy. They also look up to their mentor, Mohd Lee, who guided them with his knowledge and experience. They thanked him for his contribution during the prototype building stage.
When asked about their future plan, the team expressed that together with the team, they will keep updating each other with any ideas that they come up with, and giving worthy ones a try.
They are also looking for any enthusiastic undergraduates, especially from within UTB, interested in working on the refinement of their product. For those interested, with knowledge in electric circuitry and programming, the team can be contacted via e-mail: xolverbn@gmail.com.
To the team, inventing some-thing new is a tremendous challenge that forces everyone to think out of the box and innovate. Yet, the satisfaction from a successful invention is also very enjoyable. They hope that their journey will inspire Bruneians to innovate and become inventors!
Pahlawan II
Photos top, above and below shows the Pahlawan II team in action during the vehicle’s development pro-cess. – PHOTOS: UTB
Another manifestation of UTB students’ creativity is a vehicle designed by its students. Pahlawan II is a racing vehicle invented by UTB students to compete in the Shell Eco-Marathon Asia 2016 competition. The competition is currently on-going in Manila until March 6.
Pahlawan II was designed and fabricated by Team ONE-U that comprises of seven engineering students and a supervisor from the Mechanical Engineering and Electrical and Electronic Engineering programmes: Nurbasitah binti Raduan (Team Manager), Ahmad Amthali bin Haji Metali, Awangku Muhammad Saiful Yazid bin Pengiran Haji Anuar, Lester Ong Kai Xiang, Naasiruddeen bin Abdul Wahab, Mohammad Hafiz Khalaf bin Mohd Jamal and Shahronnizam@Eddy bin Haji Shamsuddin.
Inspiration
They got the idea and inspiration from the Pahlawan I – a solar vehicle built solely by an earlier group of students using mostly recycled materials. Pahlawan I is a solar vehicle, whereas Pahlawan II is a battery-powered electric vehicle.
The chassis of the vehicle is constructed from aluminium and mild steel. The bodywork is made up of aluminium sheets. (They also used salvaged materials from other projects done by previous students.)
According to the team, the vehicle’s design symbolises the future of our generation; dynamic, proactive and innovative. The colour scheme of the vehicle represents the university’s ethos to inspire and achieve greater things. The name Pahlawan also aptly describes the team members, who are not afraid of failure and forward-looking.
The team was inspired by their final year project supervisor who suggested them to pursue this project. They decided to develop the vehicle under his supervision.
Initially they were three separate groups, each focusing on different parts of the vehicle, namely the chassis, body design and power drive system.
Eventually they grouped themselves into a team and participate in the Shell Eco-Marathon Asia this year.
The team manager also shared that most of the modules studied by the team members in UTB were especially helpful in the process of developing the vehicle, particularly the Engineering Material module which helps them understand the characteristics of the materials before applying them to the design.
On their participation in the Shell Eco-Marathon Asia 2016, they viewed this as a big achievement in itself, in terms of gaining international experience and also the heavy responsibility of representing the university.
It would be great to win awards for safety and vehicle design, but they hope to gain as much experience as possible and inspire other students to participate in such competitions in the future. (Courtesy of UTB)
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